advertisement

Wheel of Time spins out games, movies

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Nov 12, 2008 12:23 pm PT

Red Eagle Games lands rights to make multiple film tie-ins, MMOG for Universal Pictures films based on Robert Jordan's hallmark fantasy novels.

Last September, tragedy struck the world of fantasy literature when one of its most preeminent figures, Robert Jordan (aka James Oliver Rigney), died after a prolonged battle against heart disease. Jordan's untimely death was as much a blow to the fantasy community as it was to those caught up in the epic saga of his Wheel of Time fantasy novels. With the first volume published in 1990, the Wheel of Time saga spans 12 hefty canonical installments and one novella, and has achieved total sales of more than 44 million.

The final installment in the Wheel of Time series, penned by Mistborn author Brandon Sanderson, is expected to go to press in fall 2009. However, that won't be the last word out of Jordan's fantasy universe.

Red Eagle Entertainment announced today that it has secured the rights to create a series of games based on Jordan's popular franchise. The Malibu, California, company will be forming a new game development studio to handle the projects, which will tie into a series of feature films as they are released. Red Eagle also has plans to turn the franchise into a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, though no other details on this project were revealed.

"We've got a huge running start with this property," said Red Eagle producer Rick Selvage to Venture capital news blog Venture Beat. "We expect to have a game based on every movie, and we expect no less than three movies, though that depends on how well each does."

Venture Beat also cites Selvage as saying the projects are at least five years in the offing, and that he has only just begun raising cash to fund the studio. Red Eagle is planning to release the games on all relevant consoles, desktops, handhelds, and wireless devices.

As for the film, Variety reports that Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to make a motion picture based on the franchise through a collaboration with Red Eagle. The transition to celluloid will reportedly come in installments, with the first film focusing on book one in the series, The Eye of the World.

Red Eagle would not be the first gaming company to take a crack at bringing Jordan's novels to the interactive medium. In 1999, GT Interactive and Legend Entertainment teamed to release the critically well-received The Wheel of Time, a first-person shooter which was served as a precursor to the events in the first book.

47 Comments

  • WootMannen

    Posted Nov 23, 2009 2:24 am PT

    If they do go for movies, I personally hope they'll be smart enough to realize that there is no way in hell that they can possibly cram all the good stuff with real-world actors.

    Advanced 3D or some other form of artificial animation is the way to go, and it should allow them to ensure that the sheer awesome of WoT remains. Otherwise they'll have to make compromises and concessions and the end result would probably suck as much as the movie adaptation of Eragon did.

    I doubt anyone would be able or even willing to replicate the feat of Lord of the Rings with Wheel of Time... Not with a real-world actors movie. Though, we can hope, can't we?

  • MareInfinitus

    Posted Sep 21, 2009 9:06 am PT

    The problem I would have with a movie adaptation is the fact that a movie will be hard-pressed to fit in all the details of Jordan's rich, engrossing world. If they make one movie for each book, each movie needs to be about 3 hours long in order to encompass even the major plot lines, changes, and characters from the books. Also, the characters in the books don't age 15 years from the Eye of the World to Knife of Dreams, and I can't see Red Eagle completing the series of movies before the actors look too old for their parts. Plus, they'll probably leave out some major things in order to make room, like completely ignoring the Atha'an Miere or something.

  • sircyrus

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 6:28 pm PT

    Movie tie-in games.. nooo!

    They should be dealing with the books, not the movies.

    I really hope the movies turn out well, but I really can't see that happening. I love the book series, but when magic is translated off of paper and into the visual (film) it always looks lame/stupid/weak.

    I'd also bet they'd aim for a watered down PG-13 rating, which wouldn't be able to do the battles justice.

    I don't think The Wheel of Time can be successfully translated into any other form. The story is so much about the characters, and very few games are able to make the player actually care about the pixel people. Especially not when EA is involved, which they're the parter on this...

  • thefencemarv

    Posted Jun 5, 2009 10:49 am PT

    I started reading WOT in the 90s. It has been part of my life for almost 20 years. I am excited about any new news relative to the series. I just hope it is done properly and by real fans of the work. Anything less will likely be a huge disappointment to me and millions of other fans.
    I actullly feel better about the chances of movies than games. I watched with a hopefull heart as the first game based on the books failed miserably. It was well reviewed but sold about 3 copies (one of which I bought). I had lots of technical problems playing the game and it's weak sales killed any chance of ongoing tech support. I never got to play more than a few hours of the game. I still have it and it makes a nice frisbe.
    So Godspeed Red Eagle. Please get it right.

  • lordtorka

    Posted Apr 25, 2009 5:10 pm PT

    Red Eagle Entertainment = its going to fail...hard

    the only way this will not suck is if its made by BioWare or Blizzard

    And the movie will probably suck no matter what, its being directed by a new director who has nothing under his belt.

    Im pretty upset about the whole thing, i dont want to see WOT become the next dragonball (movie wise, the games were good =P)

  • Iriscal

    Posted Jan 15, 2009 5:51 pm PT

    Blood and bloody ashes.

  • Vainamoinen82

    Posted Jan 15, 2009 5:06 pm PT

    I've heard of the Wheel of Time series, but I've never read any of the books. I think it's time I started the series, see what all the fuss is about.

  • RelentlessAngel

    Posted Dec 21, 2008 5:49 pm PT

    I would LOVE to see a WOT game come out that literally follows the books and you have your choice of what character from the books that you wanna be, (I'd be Rand he's my fav lol). From the time they leave Emonds Field to where the last book ends... And you know that if they did follow the game from beginning to end that it would be a very long game. N hopefully its not just going to be an online game because I like it to where you have the option to play online or not, (example Neverwinter Nights) your not being forced to choose one, (example World of Warcraft). And maybe leave it open to where some of your mod builders can add their own mods. I have been dying to see this done n hopefully a lot of WOT fans can actually have a game for themselves... Heres to hoping and Praying... GOOD LUCK

    As far as to the movies, thats a big iffy because there are so many books and the stories break off from one character to another. But would like to see n hopefully they stay true to the books for game n movies...

  • Eclipse20l

    Posted Nov 17, 2008 11:36 pm PT

    I am really looking forward to an MMORPG based on these books. I tried the first book on chance got 2 pages and stopped cuz the begining is boring, but picked it back up and it's been non stop awesome ever since i got past the begining... I think an MMO would work well with this world and story. These books are WAY better then lord of the rings......

  • dmjake

    Posted Nov 17, 2008 1:55 am PT

    i defiantly need to reread this series stopped a couple years back but now that they are making movies and stuff might as well read them again

  • Zloth2

    Posted Nov 15, 2008 9:40 pm PT

    If the games are based on the movies and timed to come out with the movies, I expect them to reek. If they don't then maybe.

    The movies... well, it depends on who does them and how serious they are about it. If they can sell it as a modern day Lord of the Rings (which it is in several ways) and they can find somebody willing to finance it, this could be seriously big stuff. The books split the main characters up a lot and follow them all. Maybe the movies could only follow a few of them if funding is light and more depending on how much funding they get. Or maybe they could pull one character's story out of multiple books and do it as one movie, then another character's story as another movie.

  • baradon

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 5:42 pm PT

    I love the books and would happy to see films and games of them. My fisrt main concernrs are how do they intend to make a film that is no more than 3hrs on the first book which is the same size as the entire lord of the rings triology, but there was a lot more descreption in the wheel of time. Also with the game tie in's it would be good if they could make them more as games like oblivion, fable, the witcher (you get the point) than just go here and kill this trolloc with a battle with a forsaken at the end of each level like so many poor adaptions.

  • Richard7666

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 4:44 pm PT

    The only thing I dislike about the books is that they focus very little on combat events, which are usually pretty important plot points. A skirmish gets 1 page or so, which is pretty annoying. Raymond E Feist does a much better job in that regard, he's like a medieval/fantasy Tom Clancy.
    These movies are probably only going to be very loosley based on Wheel of Time, as opposed to a retelling; with each book being about the size of LotR, and 12 of them...well, they can't really cram everything in to a trilogy of 3-4 hour movies, can they..

  • MetisZa

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 12:05 pm PT

    I love WoT. Read all 11 books, loved every one.
    No matter how much the games will suck, or the movie be lame, I'll still play/watch each and every one of them.

  • XXMadManVII

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 11:34 am PT

    They would need to make like 20 movies to do the story justice... Hollywood is gonna murder it. I will stick with the books for the story. a game however could be interesting.

  • Stryker521

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 8:36 am PT

    Hollywood is going to ruin this.

  • Mauller

    Posted Nov 13, 2008 4:11 am PT

    Movie. Game. Doesn't really matter, they'll both have plot lines that don't seem to really know where they're going. He had some great ideas and concepts and I enjoyed his characters but the man lost his direction.

  • 88jim8814

    Posted Nov 12, 2008 9:35 pm PT

    The best thing I can say about this series is that the first book is really good, and that the second is only three-quarters bad. The taut, well-crafted "Eye of the World" stands alone, and I recommend that it be read that way. But there are hints, even as far back as that, that the WoT was going to turn into a disaster. Read George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" instead.

  • 88jim8814

    Posted Nov 12, 2008 9:32 pm PT

    At this point, reading Jordan is like talking to one of those semi-retarded adults that doesn't look directly at you

  • Feibie

    Posted Nov 12, 2008 7:44 pm PT

    mmm
    i dunnoes i haven't read much into wheel of time, is it any good? i heard it's good from some people but they don't tell me why.. >.>

The Wheel of Time(1999) Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum

advertisement

Related Content

Matches based on text similarity.

advertisement
Click Here
The Wheel of Time(1999) Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
The Wheel of Time(1999)

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    4,446 of 78,695
    (down by 333)
    PC Rank:
    1,591 of 12,636
    Tracking:
    277 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    128 Wish It»
  • Player Reviews:
    4
    Player Ratings:
    297
    Users Now Playing:
    34
  • Number of Players:

    1-16

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. wheel of time
    2. the wheel of time
    3. fantasy
    4. gt interactive
    5. fps
  • Teen Rating Description

    Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement